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HAND/EYE is an independent, international publication that explores the nexus between design and development, culture and commerce, art and craft, and environment and ethics. HAND/EYE Magazine is sold at numerous stores in the US, Canada, Europe and New Zealand. These include:

Mission: HAND/EYE’s goal is to engender intelligent debate among artisans, exporters, designers, artists, wholesalers and importers, retailers, and consumers so that all may make smart, ethical, and inspired decisions about their activities.

HAND/EYE articles will discuss design as a tool for development and income generation, as well as for environmental and social progress. The magazine will also discuss innovative and ethical retail practices as a force for more enlightened and informative consumerism, and will look at NGO programs addressing artisan income generation and community well being. We will showcase relevant new product for the consideration of retailers and consumers.

Through the work of accomplished photographers, we will also look at artisan life in a visual context. In interviews with inspiring creators and do-ers of all kinds, HAND/EYE will offer nourishing food for thought to all readers.

Proceeds from sales of HAND/EYE will be divided among several non-profit agencies working to address artisan issues.

Questions about old Japanese cotton or hemp textiles are most welcome and I will respond to them the best I can.

I’ve lived in Japan for 14 years and I am very fortunate to be married to Akiko. We live in Fukuoka (Kyushu, Western Japan) with our very ornery wire haired fox terrier, Hanako. Please see my site for the details about our life in Japan.

Jim Austin
Fukuoka-shi, Japan

Mission: We wish to provide an internet presence where people from anywhere in the world can acquire exceptional early Japanese folk textiles directly from us in Japan.

I am a professional artist passionate about making painted quilts. My painted quilts are a hybrid of the fine art techniques of painting and collage with the stitching techniques of quilting and embroidery.

My painted quilts have been commissioned for hospitals, universities, corporate spaces and private homes throughout the United States.

Artist's Statement: As a child I learned one true thing: making art made me happy. That is still true today. The solitary aspect of studio work is my daily meditation, and the problem solving that art making requires has kept me interested over the years.

My aim is twofold; to create a beautiful work of art that will reconnect the viewer with the beauty of the natural world while referencing the tactile/textile memories to home, family, community and women's work; the very essence of ""quilt"".

Adrienne Butvinik has been an artist her entire life. She can't remember a time when drawing, painting and making things hasn't been the reason for waking up every day! She has an extensive background in drawing, painting and ceramics, but lately her focus has been on decorating silk to wear. Adrienne has been teaching art since 1974 and currently teaches high school crafts where she encourages young artists to express their creativity in functional artwork. Adrienne is thrilled to see people in her wearable paintings and looks forward to learning from her daily work.

Her work can be found at the Bethel Woods Museum Shop and
Barking Lizards Gallery in Brooklyn, New York. She also has a shop on Etsy.

Artist's Statement: I love making art to wear ! I love color! I love process! When I create a silk scarf or garment I think of wearing something LIVE. I let my mistakes lead me and like to think of the materials and process taking over at some point and making a statement of their own.

Where should I start? I am not very good at describing myself, but I am trying... I am a simple person with various interests. I'm fond of art and interior design. It was always my dream to be an architect but I turned out to be something else :). Indeed, my academic background and what I am doing by selling the bags are totally different. I have degrees in Chemistry and MBA from the university in my hometown, Thailand. But like many other ladies, as far as I know, I love bags. For me it's just a bit different, I love ethnic and tribal inspired ones. And that was how I started Dazzling Lanna.

Dazzling Lanna creates bags in small scale but we do wholesale as well. By doing that, we offer a very small initial wholesale of 10 bags to help people get started.

Besides being fond of art and interior design, I love to travel and dream that I could complete all destinations on my wish list. My travel experiences allow me to explore the world and have helped me create good ideas. One of my favorite place is India. I love it in many ways. I believe I will have a lot to share via Dazzling Lanna in the coming future.

Last but not least, I am an amature photographer, seeing my world through the viewfinder at leelawadeephotography.

Artist's Statement: I have been truly fascinated by the use of cloth as a collage element. Within the last few years, I have been experimenting with fabric, beading, painting, printmaking, and found objects that can be attached to cloth. My fiber collages have developed from personal experience and interests. I love the way textile art can push the boundaries of traditional quilting and sewing. I like to add color and textures to the fabrics with anything I can find. So, I am always searching for buttons, trim, unusual beads, old jewelry, rubber stamps, paint, and any other items to make my fiber collages unique. I really don’t think people realize the selections of fabrics, threads and embellishments that are available today and how much time and energy goes into making one of my fiber pieces.

I want to make my artwork memorable, so I spend a lot of time scrutinizing every piece of cloth and design element. When people are passing by my work, I want them to stop and stare. To me, that is the biggest compliment anyone can pay me. I like the way traditional sewing and quilting are evolving into a contemporary art form. Being a painter and fine artist, I find textiles have been a great way of expressing myself.

We are a unique and ever-evolving project including a flock of registered Shetland sheep, and featuring the work of Linda Glowacki, a visual artist who has fallen in love with fibre. Linda's signature pieces are the stunning wall hangings needlefelted on handmade felt. We also produce one-of-a-kind accessories and felted sculptures; and supply fleece to local artisans.

-Linda Glowacki and Margaret Brook

Artist's Statement: The sheep, with their wonderful range of natural coloured fleece, earn their keep as a constant source of entertainment and inspiration. Linda says "It's all about the felt; the colours and shapes that emerge during the felting process dictate the subjects of the wall hangings. Once I visualize the images, the mental flywheels disengage and I become totally absorbed in the artistic process." Each felt is a highly individual 'canvas'. When enhanced with needlefelted images, the spirit and substance of each subject is captured with a vibrancy difficult to achieve on canvas alone. Each work of fibre art is a delight not only to the eye, but to the fingertips. The designs are transferred straight from Linda's vivid imagination to the felt, without the use of patterns or sketches. Linda's deep connection to animals and the natural world is revealed in all her work.

My love for textiles, buttons, beads, lace and ribbons goes back very far to the time when I was a little girl visiting my grandma's house. My grandma had a room full of cupboards of all sizes and colors in which she piled her treasures that had come all the way from Germany back in 1939. It included fur coats, stray keys, strings, mother of pearl and crystal buttons from her father's shop, lace along with cotton night gowns and linen she had received for her wedding.
This room was my paradise.

When I grew up I followed my love and became a textile designer. Many of the necklaces are made from second hand neckties and cloths. Neckties were always a mystery to me. No man in my environment has ever used one. Undoing this unknown object, using its tiny beautiful, colorful prints and turning it into female decorations was a challenge to my imagination. I try to use as many recycled, reused or second hand materials as possible. Every article is hand cut, ironed and stitched by hand in my home studio with great love and care. I do hope you are going to enjoy this unusual approach to textiles and jewelry as much as I do!

Artist's Statement: Except for my love for anything that has to do with textiles, my other passion has to do with looking after our precious planet as well as the ever growing population living on its' surface. In my craft I try to combine both passions. I wish each one of us could take little steps towards change in our habits. In my way, I try. You may join me in this tremendous work we have to do in order to survive.

My name is Stacey Sharman, and I sew. Always. Everyday. Okay, sometimes I take a break, but probably not often enough. I started Peppermint Pinwheels in 2009 so that I can create playful, colorful, whimsical and fully functional quilts and home accessories whenever I desire!

Artist's Statement: Peppermint Pinwheels handcrafted quilts and home accessories have a modern, traditional style. By incorporating traditional techniques with modern ones and vintage fabrics with new, I create pieces that are both beautiful, functional, and absolutely unique.

As a quilt maker, I find the most satisfying thing is to create something that will be coveted, cuddled, and remembered for lifetimes from random bits of cloth.

I am a textile artist and I primarily utilize the centuries-old fabric dyeing technique of batik, using dyes and wax resist to create wall art, clothing, home décor, and greeting cards. Although I first tried batik many years ago as a teenage art student, I was drawn back to it in 1997 when I found the batik I created back in high school, a patterned skirt, folded away in a corner of the basement. Thinking it would be fun to try it again, I began to batik, and I haven’t stopped since. I love the planning part, which is like solving a puzzle. I love the tactile part of it – feeling the cloth, smooth when it is new, then rough when loaded with layers of wax, smooth and shiny and stiff when I iron off the wax, then silky and supple again when I get the last remaining wax out. I love swooshing the cloth in the dye bath, watching the color develop, and then hanging my batiks up to dry. On a warm spring day, my backyard is enlivened by my colorful clothesline.

Because I enjoy scrapbooking, my playing with paper evolved into making cards, and of course I had to incorporate my batik into that! I make greeting cards from photos of my batiks, sometimes bits of those photos crafted into a collage. Each card is hand crafted, creatively matted and embellished.

I welcome custom orders. I recently batiked a dress for a mother-of-the-bride. We collaborated on the design, which had elements from one of my wall hangings.

I have exhibited and sold my work throughout the New Jersey/New York metropolitan area. Most recently I exhibited my wall hangings and scarves at the Maurice Pine Public Library Gallery in Fair Lawn, NJ. My cards are currently for sale at Stoopher and Boots, located on the Upper West Side in New York City. I have SusanItkinBatik shops on Etsy and 1000 Markets.

Although mostly self-taught, I studied batik at the New School for Social Research in New York. I minored in Fine Arts at Syracuse University, where I obtained a B.S. in Communications.

Artist's Statement: Batik is great "therapy" for a former perfectionist like me. Much like the flora that inspires my work, batik is an imperfect perfect art. As no two leaves are alike, no two batiks are alike. Just like the colors on a flower’s petal, the dyes on a piece of fabric blend a little differently each time.

My anticipation and delight in each blossoming flower reflects my hope and joy each time I remove the wax from a completed batik. The beautiful imperfections in the batik process have taught me to value the unique and enjoy the unexpected.

Hi! I'm Desirée and I love textiles. Especially textiles with interesting structures. And, I do love the light Nordic colors.

In 2006, I bought my first loom, one small Glimåkra. In the winter of 2009, I complemented that loom with a countermarch loom with 10 shafts. Since May of 2010, I have had my own studio where I spend my days weaving.

There have been many rag rugs. The Rose and The Wheel are two of my own patterns. And then there are runners, towels, scarves and mug rugs. You just never know where it will end!

i create unique, one of a kind scarves, metal mesh jewelry and accessories. i use a wide variety of materials including ribbons, kimono fragments, recycled textiles, as well as vintage mid-century fabrics. my customer is someone who seeks out unusual and individual pieces. i have had success with trunk shows and private sales, and would like to enter the retail market.

Artist's Statement: I have a lifelong love for color, form and texture. My mother, who studied fashion design, taught me to sew at age 4 and I have loved textiles ever since. My projects have included embroidery, knitting, sewing and other traditional needle art forms. I have taken these forms and used them in nontraditional ways to change the viewers’ perception of, and reaction to them. Having earned a BFA in painting, I have worked with oil and acrylic paints, metals, fabric and yarn. In my fiber works, I now “paint” with yarn, ribbons, and other materials. My experience of creativity is a journey with constantly changing inspirations and forms of expression. I am always looking to learn new methods and materials.

My goal is to create objects of beauty that delight and enhance, and to evoke associations with memories and events in the wearer’s lives. Ultimately, I want to make my art a part of their lives that gives joy and beauty.

We are a group of Maya Mam women from the town of Cajolá in Guatemala. (Mam is one of the 21 different ethnic Maya groups in Guatemala.) For us Maya, weaving has been a way for thousands of years to express our identity, our love of beauty and to relay the wisdom of our ancestors. Our ancestors left an extraordinary legacy to us and to all of humanity -- a vision of the universe that allows us to know our place in that universe and that guides our lives in harmony with every other person’s purpose in life so that we all develop to our full potential.

Our group began when several of us came together to talk about common problems. We identified lack of income as our major need, and began to learn to weave (on a foot loom – many of us already weave on our traditional backstrap loom) and to sew on pedal sewing machines. Our goal is to create products inspired by our traditions -- weaving our ancient wisdom into our textiles, but now designed to share with the people of the U.S.

Mission: Inspired by our traditional weaving and cosmovision, we are creating products designed for the U.S. market. Each product includes a small teaching from our cosmovision. In this way we can continue the traditions of our ancestors as well as share their wisdom with others.

Hi, my name is Jules Rushing and I live in Lantana, Texas. I am the luckiest Fiber Artist in the world, because I’m married to “Mr. Wonderful”. I wouldn’t be able to create without the awesome support he has always given me. But I do have to confess, I have an addiction….it’s fabric.

So, what do I like to do with fabric? Dye it, paint it, quilt it. Several years ago, I was introduced to traditional quilting and then I found art quilts. Art quilting has become a passion. Being able to create color, texture, depth and visual appeal out of something that feels so wonderful and looks so luscious…. what can I say? All of my quilts are original designs and most of the fabric I use has either been dyed or painted and sometimes both! If I’m not using hand dyed/painted fabric, then I’m using batiks.

I have won a couple of ribbons with my quilts and will have one in a special exhibit this year with the International Quilt Festival. I sell my art quilts through galleries and my ArtFire studio. I also sell my hand dyed and hand painted fabrics through StudioJules on ArtFire.

Artist's Statement: Color, I love color, bright colors. My art quilts display the color and the movement of color that I see in my head. I am fascinated by the colors in flowers and the texture they have. Architecture comes through my creative thoughts in an abstract way. So, that is what I try to accomplish with fabric, paint and thread – color, texture, depth, dimension and an illusion. My goal is to create an image that seems ordinary and expand on it. If I see someone stop and look at one of my quilts and pause for a just few minutes, then I know I have accomplished my creative goal with that one-of-a- kind piece.

My name is Monika Kinner-Whalen. I am a quilt maker and fibre artist living in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. Much of my art is inspired by the prairies and my world around me. I am an avid photographer and I often incorporate my photos into my work. Much of my fibre art is smaller scale with much color, embellishment, and fine detail. My quilts are all original and made from beginning to end by me. I have some things for sale, but I do love commissioned work. You can read about this process through my Etsy Alchemy page. My business name is "My Sweet Prairie". As I delved into fibre art, integrating my photos with my quilting skills, I would try to think up names for each piece. "My Sweet Prairie" fit everything I created. And so that name fit perfectly for my business.

My quilts can be seen on display at McNally Robinson's Booksellers, as well as at The Centre Galleries on occasion (both in Saskatoon, SK).

Artist's Statement: As a sewist and an avid photographer, Fibre Arts is the perfect marriage for me to express my love of the Canadian Prairies. As I began to see my own artistic identity emerge in my work, I decided to moved forward through the use of Etsy, Blogging, joining rings, and becoming a member of quilt and craft guilds. My mission is to continue creating, learning, and exploring mixed media and fibre art. I work to expand my art and stay current with trends and techniques while maintaining a public presence for others to enjoy my work.

In a one hundred year old barn perched upon a sand dune in Saugatuck Michigan, there you will find Fairytale Incorporated. Inside you will discover the divine madness of a buzzing sewing machine, a lovely alchemist that resides in the form of a kiln, and the most important ingredient of all, wild laughter and humming happiness. All allowing the production of delightful accouterments for the heart, home and soul.

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TAFA: The Textile and Fiber Art List is a membership organization of fiber artists and textile businesses on the web. TAFA showcases member portfolios through its website, provides access to larger markets, offers access to business resources and fosters community.